Sightless
by J Plash
Summary: Perhaps the difference between fighting for a master and fighting for a Sacrifice is the glow in Soubi’s eyes. His eyes burn with the name Beloved. And his world is full of light. Soubi, Ritsu, Seimei. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Loveless belongs to Kouga Yun. The stanza in italics at the beginning is Billy Joel (except for the 3rd line, which I shamelessly made up and substituted).

A/N: This is posted as three chapters, but they're _really_ meant to be read as one (ffnet formatting just makes chapters the most efficient way to separate parts), so please read all three together if you have time :) They're not so much different chapters as just separated for ease of reading. Let me know what you think :)

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_So I would choose to be with you_

_That's if the choice were mine to make_

_But my choices belong to you_

_And you can have this heart to break_

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_**Sightless**_

Leaves shift insignificantly in the wind, the sun beats on shifting clusters of students, and Agatsuma Soubi refuses to twitch as his shirt shifts on welts that are barely healed over. It is the middle of the day, and uncomfortably warm outside, even in the constant breeze through the grounds of Seven Voices Academy. Across from Soubi, two boys a few inches taller than him and almost three years older stand squarely in the grass, and their eyes are the only things that shift at all. Mori Ataru and Oshiro Rai, Fighter and Sacrifice, are busy looking confident and unruffled. Sightless is proud to be the strongest team at Seven Voices Academy, and not about to be caught nervous about a fight. Especially one against a Fighter with no Sacrifice.

The Academy's top student glares only a little petulantly across the grass at his tall, pale, Sacrifice-less and apparently indifferent opponent. Neither has lost a battle any time in the recent past, but Agatsuma Soubi is just an upstart...if one who's been 'upstarting' for years now. He hasn't fought Sightless since they were…eleven? They thrashed him then, of course—he was a little eight-year-old kid with no Sacrifice. And now, Ataru reminds himself, he's just a big kid with no Sacrifice. This fight wouldn't even be happening if Soubi weren't Ritsu-sensei's favourite. No one wants him to win. No one even speaks to him, really.

He's weird, Soubi. Spends more time with Ritsu-sensei than he does with any of the students. And whether or not it's Sensei who took Soubi's ears is the worst kept rumour in any school, ever, Ataru thinks. Not that it's really a question. Who else does Soubi have _anything_ to do with? It's pretty obvious, too. There's something like a circle around the battle, except that anyone can see it's got a crowd on one side, and some leaves and a lot of sun on the other. The other students are trying to spread out in a poor effort at tact, but Ataru knows they all expect Sightless to beat Soubi, and they're all happy about it. He grins as his Sacrifice steps in behind him.

"You know the only person who wants him to win is Ritsu-sensei. I don't think Soubi even wants himself to win."

Ataru smiles weakly. Rai, his partner, his life, is right, of course. No one wants Soubi to win…except Sensei. He scowls across the space between them. On his side, everyone. And across from him, Agatsuma Soubi and their teacher, who should be his teacher, but is too busy fawning on his favourite to pay more than cursory attention to the _top student_. He tells himself he doesn't care, and knows it's not true.

Ataru turns to glare behind him as Rai swats the back of his head. Sweat runs through short black hair, down his neck, tickles his back beneath his shirt.

"Stop glaring at Sensei's feet. We're here to prove we're better, right?"

Ataru nods sharply. "Yeah. We'll beat him easy."

Rai grins maliciously across at Soubi, who may or may not be watching. No one can tell. He's probably just staring into space. "I think everyone's just about here. We should be good to go soon."

Ataru glances across the space again. "I figure he'll challenge us when Sensei's ready."

Rai briefly considers taking his Fighter's hand, but he doesn't want it to look like this battle is a challenge. They're going to win this in minutes. "Don't go easy on him, Ataru."

Ataru turns back to meet his Sacrifice's eyes and as the rest of the world fades away, he finds it much easier to smile. Who cares about their teacher, after all? Rai wants him to win, and he wants him to win, and as long as there's the two of them, who cares about the rest? He nods again, and this time he looks like he might believe it. "Sounds good, Rai. Soubi won't know what's hit him."

Soubi studies his opponents with a deceptive passivity. Sightless are obviously closely bonded. The boys even look similar, though Soubi doesn't suppose that counts for much. He wonders wistfully whether they cut their hair short together, or whether it's just coincidence. It's not exactly a distinctive cut, after all. Soubi's hair doesn't look much like anyone's, though maybe it looks a little like Ritsu-sensei's, he thinks. He knows that Sightless is strong, but that doesn't count for much either. Ritsu-sensei expects him to win and with no trace of arrogance, Soubi implicitly intends to. Soubi acknowledges and fulfils all expectations and all orders.

"Soubi."

His teacher's voice is only steps behind him and though he has no Sacrifice, Soubi feels the bond between them sustaining him, power waiting for his words.

"Sensei?"

The command is simple. "Begin."

Soubi takes one small step forward, a courtesy to his opponent. He sees them straighten minutely, and knows they didn't miss it. "Battle systems engage."

A wave pulses through their surroundings, resensing, reforming, rematerializing. Dimensions shift subtly. Soubi feels the well of power at his call, and only vaguely wonders how this will be when his Sacrifice stands by him, because he has done this many times before and there is little new left to wonder. "I declare a spell battle."

Sightless too step forward, just a step, and their hands join. "In the depth of the dark you cannot see us coming—we are Sightless. The sightless see all. We accept."

Soubi smiles faintly. "That's a good spell."

The words sound strangely genuine, but Sightless are sure he's taunting them. Rai almost taunts him back, but he can still see their teacher behind Soubi, though strangely separate—outside of this dimension—and Rai is still a schoolboy, even if he really doesn't like this kid. "Ataru, attack him!"

"Right!" Ataru lets the words collect in his throat. "Silence, crush his voice and oppress him. Restrain!" It's a long time since Sightless has fought against someone on auto, and it's a slight effort for Ataru to call up the spells—they're a little different to fighting a team.

Soubi's voice is clear and almost flat. "My voice rises through the silence. Damage is zero."

And so the battle begins.

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A/N: All three chapters are meant to be read together (they work together as one whole story, not as separate chapters) so please go on :)


	2. Chapter 2

When the battle has been going for three minutes and Soubi has barely suffered a restraint, let alone any notable injury, Oshiro Rai first begins to feel almost…threatened. His Fighter is too busy being furious. When the next attack nearly knocks Rai down, and the one after restrains him more seriously than any attack has done in almost longer than he can remember, he can see the fear and the shock and the simple, intense hatred in his Fighter's eyes as Ataru turns, horrified, on impulse. Soubi still looks…passive. Unconcerned. There is nothing in his eyes, because there is nothing to be there, and Sightless know that the revulsion they feel is asking whether Soubi is even human.

The restraints choking Rai are strong, and Sightless know if they take the time to crush them, Soubi will attack again. Rai knows Ataru is out of practice at freeing him. He weighs his options only a moment. "Don't worry about it Ataru! Attack!" He doesn't need to break the restraints if he can crush their maker. The Fighter feels his partner's will flow through him, give him power. "Darkness of the dreamless sleeper, deeper than shadows in the freezing night, freeze his limbs and rend his heart with void!" The image is complex, but this draws on the sight-world of his name, on the word most essential to his being, to his bond, and in these images, imbued with his name, his fullest power is drawn. The power drawn between him and his Sacrifice. The power of their word.

Soubi has no Sacrifice, but he does have a master. Ritsu-sensei has ordered that Soubi fight two-on-one, for now. Soubi knows that he is expected to win on auto. It is fine. He has no Sacrifice, but he has been told to win, and so, as the darkness of Sightless surrounds him, the words form themselves with barely a thought. One word spells were left behind in the first two minutes of the battle. Simple spells passed quickly in the next two. Their spells now are higher, greater, and Soubi finds them beautiful.

"The sleeper's eyes open, and the light blinds. Tear away night's shadows, melt the freezing cold, obliterate the void. Cutting rays of rising sun, rend their bond and bind them."

Sightless defends, and it is too slow. Rai gasps as restraints frighteningly close to complete bring their once familiar pain. Ataru is barely hanging on to reason. "A pressure of rising force, crush the restraints to dust and free Sightless."

Soubi briefly considers cutting in another attack in the breath between Sightless' attempt to free themselves and their coming retaliation, but chooses not to. He thinks that perhaps, though it is so hard to know like this, Ritsu-sensei would feel it graceless. A cheap victory. He doesn't need the weak opening.

Sightless' eyes are burning, and neither of the pair is angry at each other, but both are irrationally furious at Soubi. The restraints have barely been weakened by Ataru's attempt. He pauses only a few beats before returning to the attack. He knows he can afford no more. "Shadows cast by all things, slay light and lay bars where there were none. Restrain!"

The attack is poorly formed, hastily worded, the image too swayed by emotion, and Soubi barely needs to think about defence. "The light bathes all. The shadow is shattered. Shards, return. Cut with the heat of two-hundred suns."

"Defend!"

"Your barriers are transparent. The light shines through."

Ataru's voice is desperate, and Soubi's is eerily calm. Another Fighter might have been disappointed that a battle so long prepared for could end so quickly—that a Fighter with such a reputation could so easily lose focus and fall apart. Soubi is not disappointed, nor is he happy. He is told to win, and so he does.

Rai cries out involuntarily. Ataru's panic is too clear. "Mighty forest, giants of wood and life, tower over him and shut him in!"

It is clear to everyone watching the battle now that Sightless is too damaged to image the complex visions surrounding their name. Ataru is desperate. He has reverted to his surroundings—there is little but trees, since Soubi controls the sun—and the image is marginally stronger, but Soubi has been taught first to counter by oppositions, and 'wood' plays to his strength, if he has one strength.

"Fire that conquers all, slay the wooden giant, burn him to ash and return in a rain of burning dust." Find the holes in their attacks. Defend and attack in the same image. Focus on the vision. Let the words materialise. "Burn through their ropes, melt their chains, obliterate their ties. Sever! Bury them in ash and burn them in flame. Restrain!"

"Def—"

"Your defence is nil. The fire burns through!"

"Def—"

"Your defence is nil."

Soubi's words are swallowed by the cries of his opponent's Sacrifice, writhing on the ground, not unconscious, but fully restrained. Slowly, Rai stills, humiliated. Slowly, his Fighter falls to his knees. As the world shifts back into focus and Soubi lets dimensions realign, Ataru crawls shakily toward his unmoving partner. The restraints holding Rai have dissolved into air.

"Rai!"

"Unh. I'm okay. I'm fine, Ataru."

The Fighter breathes heavily, eyes not leaving his less than healthy Sacrifice. "I'm sorry. I was too weak."

Rai draws in shallow breaths. "Don't sweat it. We'll beat that bastard next time."

Soubi watches, motionless, until Sightless is clearly seen to be alive, conscious and remaining so. When he turns, his eyes find Ritsu-sensei immediately, and he moves undistracted. When he stands before his teacher—his master—he does not raise his eyes.

"Good." Ristu-sensei's voice is without emotion, but Soubi is sure that the man is pleased. Soubi smiles, a little.

"You countered through their spells reasonably well, but you're too reliant on light and heat." Soubi follows as his teacher turns away from the gathering of students, staff now clustering around the defeated Sightless. "Next time use something else, even if your opponent's attacks make fire obvious. Someday you may fight someone less repetitive. I don't want another light attack until I give you permission."

Soubi nods, eyes still downcast. "Acknowledged."

Ristu-sensei does not seem to remember the other team until he reaches the doors. He turns only his head. "Sightless!" The fussing staff and students jump at the call, parting just enough for Soubi to see Ataru still kneeling over his other half. Ritsu-sensei is blunt as ever. "Don't get distracted so easily. The holes in your attacks were inexcusable."

Soubi follows his master wordlessly inside, unconcerned by the muttering and glares following his back.

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A/N: One chapter left :) Please read it :) It's the point of the story :)


	3. Chapter 3

Four years later, Soubi has a different master.

"Kill them, Soubi."

Soubi feels the order fill him, lift him up, give him breath. Make him real. Seimei's word is absolute.

All Soubi's images, even the light, have strange, burning violet eyes.

"Battle system expand. I declare a spell battle."

Sightless join hands as the wave of Soubi's power rushes over them. "We are Sightless. The dark so bright that you are blinded. We see all and you are silent." Ataru steps forward, half a step, in front of his Sacrifice. "We accept."

Soubi does the same. "That's not your old spell."

Ataru glares. "It's stronger. So are we."

For a moment, Soubi only smiles. And then his voice is flame and dark at once. "Light, become absolute, wash away blemish, disintegrate all other things. Destroy them."

No starting with simple spells. No passive Fighter, no dead eyes. There is something in him now. But the boy who was once, before Soubi beat him, the top student at Seven Voices Academy has also gotten stronger, and so has his Sacrifice.

"Defend!" He too was taught to feed off the holes in an attack, and he knows he is strong, even if they say it is impossible. Beating Beloved. "The blind man opens his eyes and sees no light, for he is sightless!" Ataru has a long memory, and he has never made the same mistake twice. This time there is no hole. This time, the dreamer is as sightless awake as asleep. This time, his word is all-encompassing. Agatsuma Soubi will have nowhere to counter, even _with_ his Sacrifice. His Beloved. Ataru scowls only at Soubi as he attacks, because no one looks at Beloved's Sacrifice. "The blind man opens his eyes and drowns in darkness. Drown them, smother them, restrain them!"

Soubi's counter is seamless. "The blind man dreams of light, breathes in vision, is revived in hope." Soubi smiles now, because there is happiness in fulfilling Seimei's orders, every one of them, without fail. Happiness too painless to imagine. "The dream of light is the hope unquenchable. The dream of light is the blind man's world." The words flow of their own accord, and every crystal image is imbued with his master's will. "There is nothing else. Obliterate."

And the strength of his spell—a spell that few others—no other, perhaps—has the mind, the vision, the art to image—is so great in the will of his Sacrifice that they are, in truth, unbeatable.

Sightless does not have time to be angry, let alone to defend. The Fighter falls to the ground as his Sacrifice is taken, barely hanging on to life, consciousness gone. "Rai!" His voice is weak, gasping. His Sacrifice is still and silent, and for the first time in a long time, Ataru is afraid.

Soubi looks almost as passive as he did four years ago, except for his eyes. His eyes have changed. His eyes burn with the name Beloved. "Blade of light, take their lives. Rend, destroy. Sever. Erase life."

Mori Ataru's eyes widen a moment. He has heard the rumours, but however they hated Soubi in school, he was not a killer. This spell, Sightless did not expect. Ataru's eyes widen only a moment. And then they close, and do not open again.

Soubi watches motionless until Sightless is seen to be dead, and remaining so. When he turns, his eyes find Seimei's immediately, and they do not look away. Seimei reaches one hand and presses pain, hard, touch, sensation—life—briefly into the scar circling Soubi's neck. Soubi shivers, and controls his ecstasy.

"Good." Seimei's approval is simple, and Soubi knows that his master is pleased.

Soubi smiles. All is wonderful. He follows his master wordlessly away, unconcerned by the bodies in the grass behind them. Seimei's word is absolute. And Soubi's world is full of light

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_A__nd this is why my eyes are closed_

_It's just as well for all I've seen _

_We all fall down as time crawls by_

_And sightless eyes forget what's been._

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A/N: Thank you for reading :) This is my first Loveless fanfic, so I hope you enjoyed it! Please review – as anyone who reads my other fandoms will know, I adore reviews like air. I absorb them through my skin for writing energy. Seriously :P Let me know what I can improve, or just that you liked it (or hated it) – anything is good. There's no such thing as a 'bad' review :)

Disclaimer: Loveless belongs to Kouga Yun. The stanza in italics at the end is half Billy Joel and half me (last 2 lines are mine).


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